


Here For You

by wewriteletters



Category: The Good Doctor (TV 2017)
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Sexual Harassment, if the show won't continue the coyle story line I will!, takes place after She but before Heartfelt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-18
Updated: 2018-03-18
Packaged: 2019-04-04 04:40:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,227
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14012391
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wewriteletters/pseuds/wewriteletters
Summary: Claire opens up to Shaun about what happened with Doctor Coyle.





	Here For You

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this as a kinda sequel to my other story Just Between Us but you don't need to read that one to understand this fic. This is another one I'm not super proud of but also I have a feeling the show is about to conclude the Coyle story line in the new episode so I wanted to post this before it became too cannon divergent. Please be aware that this story contains discussion of the sexual harassment Claire dealt with.

“I still can’t believe Melendez told Jared to shut up!” Claire laughed, curls bouncing as she shook her head. “God, I can even hear it in his voice. Poor Jared; that must have been an awkward conversation.”

Shaun nodded as he and Claire headed out of the cafeteria. “Doctor Melendez is still upset with Jared. I don’t really understand why.”

The comment made Claire’s face fall, as she realized that Shaun, in fact, had no idea why Jared was fired, or why he had been rehired. He wasn’t even at the hospital for most of the time Jared had been absent. Claire pondered the issue, absent mindedly running her hand across the tile that lined the walls of the hallway. She had kept her word to Shaun; it was Monday and the two of them had just finished having breakfast together. Claire was glad to see how happy it seemed to make him. Shaun had seemed to gotten out of the haze that followed him the day after his talk with Doctor Glassman. Claire could tell their relationship was still strained; she noticed all of Shaun’s conscious efforts to avoid even going to the floor that contained the president's office, but it seemed like he was no longer dwelling on the issue. He had even mentioned his new neighbor and how he was “borrowing” his TV channels, seeming happy to have another person to consider as a possible friend. 

But their conversation had eventually shifted to news happening around the hospital. Claire told Shaun about the new resident, Morgan, and what a pain in the ass she had been to work with. Shaun had told Claire about how Jared was excited to have not been on Melendez’s service, since whenever he was, Melendez just made him do scut work. And, as they threw away their trash, he had offhandedly mentioned how when they were working on a burn victim, Jared had made some remark and Melendez told him to “shut up.” Claire had laughed about it at first, imaging Jared’s face when his boss said those words, which sounded more like something from the mouth of a high school mean girl than an attending surgeon, but Shaun’s last comment brought her back to reality.

Melendez was mad at Jared. Jared was being punished. And Shaun didn’t know any of that.

Sure, he might have noticed some animosity between the resident and Melendez, but he wouldn’t have known that the issue went deeper than Jared doing something mundane to piss off Melendez. 

“Yeah,” Claire finally replied. “It’s….complicated.” The two of them were out of the cafeteria and now stood in the lobby, by the main staircase. Claire glanced at her phone, noting that they at least an hour before their shift even started. 

“Was it because Jared was fired?” Shaun asked earnestly. Claire scrunched her nose, still not sure how best to approach the issue. 

“I suppose so. Melendez has just been in a bad mood lately, I think. You hear that Jessica broke up with him?”

Shaun nodded. “Why was Jared fired? Doctor Glassman never told me. He just told me that Doctor Andrews fired him so Doctor Melendez was short staffed and I should get back to the hospital.” Shaun squirmed uncomfortably and began to wring his hands. “That was in a text Doctor Glassman sent when I was on my road trip with Lea.”

Claire sighed, trying to find the right way to approach this topic. She could easily change the subject; a quick mention of some article in the newest edition of the American Journal of Medicine would send Shaun on a tangent about heart valve replacement or the latest breakthrough in minimally invasive surgery. But then again, she really wished she had someone to talk to about the whole thing. The only people who knew about everything were the people involved, and it would be nice to have some support from someone outside that circle. Shaun had confided in her, why shouldn’t she be able to confide in him as well?

So, brushing off all concerns (How would she approach the topic? What would Shaun say? Was it even legal to discuss the case with him?) Claire gestured to a bench off to the far corner of the lobby, the most solitary place she could see. 

“Wanna sit down?”

Shaun glanced at his watch, humming and bouncing slightly on the balls of his feet. “We have rounds. Doctor Melendez would not be happy if we were late.” 

“Rounds don’t start for another hour, I doubt Melendez is even here. Come on, I want to tell you something.”

Shaun bit his lip slightly, but turned towards the bench. “Okay.”

So the two walked over, Claire trying to give herself a mental pep talk. She wasn’t even sure why she felt so nervous about telling Shaun. Claire guessed it was just a feeling she would get whenever telling someone else about what happened, especially a man. There was always that fear that they would brush it off as “not a big deal”, or worse, accuse her of lying.

The words she told Jared when it first happened echoed through her mind: “I am sleeping with you Jared, and you thought I was overreacting. How do you think three strangers will see things?”

Shaun had been there when she first mentioned how uncomfortable Coyle had made her feel. He hadn’t accused her of overreacting, like Jared had, but he hadn’t exactly offered support. And when she asked if they could switch cases, all his said was no, he liked his patient.  
She tried to force the memory from her head. This was ridiculous. Of course Shaun wanted to stay on the case of a famous athlete. Why would he switch that for a surgery that looked completely mundane in comparison? But still, it would have been nice if he had switched with her... 

As the two of them sat down, Claire turned to face Shaun, swallowing to try and calm herself. 

‘You’re not doing anything wrong,’ Claire reminded herself silently. ‘You just need someone to talk about this with. Someone who isn’t Jared or Melendez or Aoki. Just someone to be a friend, and listen.’

“Shaun, you remember when you and Jared were working that pro athlete case and I did that suregory with Doctor Coyle? It was like a two weeks ago.”

God, had it only been two weeks? It felt like ages ago, so much had happened. Claire continued. “I told you and Jared that Doctor Coyle was behaving...inappropriately. But it got worse. He tried to instigate sexual activity with me and, when I rejected him, he accused me of insubordination.” Claire coughed slightly. She had thought that even speaking the words would make her feel better. But she still felt the same. If anything, replaying Coyle’s comments in her head was making her feel worse. But she continued. No sense in stopping now. 

“He sexually harassed me and I told Jared and Jared confronted Coyle and got fired,” she continued, getting the words out as fast as she could, still unsure of what she was saying. She decided it would be better to be vague on the details about Jared; she had no idea if she was even legally allowed to talk about it. “That’s why Jard was fired but his lawyer sued for wrongful termination or something so that’s why he’s back at work and-”

“You need to report him.” Shaun interjected. Claire looked up. He looked upset and uncomfortable; his eyes darted around above Claire’s head and he clasped his hands tightly. “That is not acceptable behaviour for an attending surgeon. Doctor Coyle needs to be reported. You need to tell-”

“Shaun.” Claire interrupted him. His voice was getting louder and Claire really didn’t need anyone overhearing their conversation. “It’s okay. I really appreciate your concern but I already reported Doctor Coyle. That is why he was transferred.” 

Shaun shook his head rapidly. “He needs to be fired. The hospital has a very strict policy against workplace sexual harassment. It was in the employee handbook. I remember, it said-”

“Shaun, you are absolutely right that Coyle should have been fired but the fact is, he’s one of the best surgeons this hospital has and so...it’s more complicated.” 

“I will tell Doctor Glassman! He is the president of the hospital, he will do something about it. We aren’t talking right now, but I can inform him of your situation. Doctor Glassman wouldn’t want someone like that working for him. It shouldn’t matter how good of a surgeon he is.” Shaun was getting very worked up and Claire wasn’t really sure how to react. She wished he would lower his voice, but she also was also somewhat relieved that Shaun hadn’t brushed off what she said. He was concerned, he wanted to help. But Claire also remembered what had happened after Jared had insisted she report Coyles behaviour.

“I’m sure Doctor Glassman already knows. I mean, Aoki does so she probably told him…” Claire trailed off. Did Glassman know? Did this kind of thing get reported to the President of the hospital? Claire always imagined that it would be more of something human resources dealt with, but considering how out of control everything had gotten with Jared...

“You don’t need to tell anyone Shaun,” Claire finally said, letting out a breath. “I just needed someone to talk to. That’s something friends do. We talk to each other about our problems. So I appreciate you just letting me vent. It’s a hard situation to deal with, but I’m handling it.” She hesitated, unsure of how much she wanted to reveal about what else she was doing. “Don’t worry, Shaun. Coyle is not going to get away with this. I found other women who have been harassed by him and if the hospital isn't going to demand a change, we are.”

Shaun still looked frustrated, but he didn’t say anything more about Claire reporting Coyle to Glassman. The duo sat in silence, Claire fidgeting with her hands. Maybe this had been a bad idea? Shaun had his own issues to deal with, was it fair for her to just dump this all on him? 

“You are very brave, Claire.”

Claire turned her head, a bit surprised at Shaun’s comment, especially since it felt like the long stretch of silence was gonna last between them until she broke it with a “Well, I guess we better go get ready for rounds.”

“Thank you Shaun. That means a lot.”

“What Doctor Coyle did was wrong. And now you are standing up for yourself, and for others who went through what you did. That is a good thing.” 

“I really appreciate your support,” Claire sighed. She just wished this entire situation had never happened. It wasn’t fair. She should be focusing on learning the most she could, not on having to force the hospital administration to do something about an issue that should have been handled so differently. “It’s just no fun to feel helpless. I wish I could have prevented the whole thing in the first place. I guess a part of me still blames myself for not doing something before everything got so out of control and Jared got fired and...everything else.” 

Claire took a deep breathe, trying to steady herself after basically exposing everything she was feeling. She was glad to get everything off her chest, but that didn’t mean it had been an easy process. She found herself looking down at her lap and began to play with her bracelet. 

After a beat of silence, Claire realized someone was touching her. She looked up slowly and found a hand, cupping her shoulder and back. It was Shaun.

He slowly raised and lowered his hand against her arm, keeping with a rhythm. His eyes were on her and, although Claire couldn’t quite discern his facial expression, she inferred that it was meant to be comforting. 

Claire was surprised; she didn’t think she had ever even shaken hands with Shaun. He was obviously not a fan of contact. The closet thing she could recall to him trying anything like this was when she found out her patient wouldn’t be getting a liver transplant, and he reached out towards her. Claire had never really understood why. But in this moment she realized; he wanted to pat her shoulder, to provide her comfort.

“Please don’t blame yourself Claire,” he said softly, before moving his hand back to his lap. “It’s not your fault.” 

Claire looked at Shaun for a moment. His eyes were full of genuine concern and care for her. Sometimes Claire forgot what a good listener Shaun was. She really was so lucky to have him as a friend.

“Thank you Shaun. For just listening.” 

The two of them returned to their silence, but this time it wasn’t one of tension and awkwardness. It was one of quiet reflection. 

Throughout the entire situation, Claire had felt disgusted. She was disgusted with Coyle, with the hospital, even with herself and Jared to an extent. But Shaun was right, she was doing the right thing. Coyle was not going to be able to victimize any other women, not if she had anything to save about it.

He wasn’t going to get away with it.

**Author's Note:**

> As you can tell I had no idea how to end this lmao but thanks for reading!


End file.
